Star Trek:Honourable Destiny -"New Beggining" Chapter 1
by John Whitney
Summary: The first in a story I am writing based 20 years after the end of the Dominion War, Captain Richards takes command of his new ship and takes on a mission to the gamma quadrant involving Dr Zimmermans legacy and a new Dominion threat.


Chapter 1  
  
Captain Richards walked into Jupiter Station's briefing room with his head down, he was told to report there but wasn't told why. He entered and looked up, in the room was Admiral Collins and Captain Chang; the stations commander. He looked at their faces and it was not what he expected they seemed serios but not deadly serious. He has assumed that he was called fourth because of an incident with the Orion synidicate a few weeks earlier. He had tried to be diplomatic, because the ship they had taken control of was full of civilians bound for Deep Space Nine, In the end when Richards 's ships shields dropped to 25% he had little choice but to board and retake the ship. He joined the away team on the ship and shot a civilian. Although Starfleet command had told him that although it was a terrible action even by accident, no charges would be brough against him. "It was an honest mistake in the heat of battle" they said But now when he was told to report to Jupiter Station to see Admiral Collins he wasn't so sure.   
"Ahh Captain Richards Please come over here" The aging admiral told him  
"Yes sir, may I ask, why am I here?" Richards asked,  
"Oh, you were right sir, he doesn't waste any time" Chang commented  
"Very well, Captain no pleasantries we'll do this your way, You've been called here because your being reassigned. " The Admiral said  
"Reassigned?"  
"Yes Captain reassiged. As you may or may not know, the late Dr Zimmerman stationed here was a hologramitical genious. Not only did he create the EMH series but he also created other things to help Starfleet. Although his crowning acheiviement was the EMH programs he also worked on several other holograms."  
"I remember the EMH MK 1 "Chang said nostalgically "Since Dr Zimmerman was based here there were lots of EMH prototypes around, in fact once when Voyager got back to the Alpha Quadrant I met that EMH, did you know he's an expert on Borg technology?"  
"I knew Voyager had a few encounters with them but what doe-" Richards said and was interuppted by Collins  
"You want to know what this has to do with your reassignment don't you? Well this has everything you need" He handed him a datapad, Richards examined it for a moment and then questioned  
"But Sir, according to this you'r assigning me to a Promethius class ship with only a crew of 15, is this an error sir?"  
"You'll see when you get to your new ship" Collins said cryptically "The Honourable Destiny will arrive in 24 hours, you have untill then to say your goodbyes. I want you good to go the second that ship gets here"  
"Yes Sir" Richards said   
"Dismissed" With that Richards left the room and wondered whar he was going to be doing. Had Collins lost his mind, was he possessed? There's something very strange about this assignment I can tell.   
After Richards had collected his belongings and turned the ship over to Lieutenant Whitney he settled down in his temporary quarters abord the station to read every last nugget of information in the pad. It turns out he was being assigned to the first nonRichards prototype Promethius ship, maxium warp of 9.8, and it's best feature the multi vector attack mode. He read it was equipped with an EMH Mark 5 and features holoemitters so the doctor can go anywhere.It also stated that the second and third bridge sections were equipped with Emergancy Command Holograms, apparently each one was unique, programed with the knowledge of a great tactical commander. But the pad didn't state who the holograms were programmed after.he was anxious to find out. Suddenly his comm badge broke his concentration.   
" Richards " It was Collins  
" Yes Sir?"   
"Report to docking bay 2 now, your new ship is here"  
"Understood Sir". He took a turbolift to Docking bay 2 and was greeted by Collins, and 3 other men. The first one introduced himself  
"Sir, it's an honour. I'm Lieutenant Michaels your first officer, this is 1st lieutantant Gladwell our chief engineer" he said as he pointed to a podgy middle aged man " and Ensign Hart our helmsman."  
"It's an honour to meet you all" Richards said "Admiral may I ask what are our orders the datapad didn't explain?"  
"Of course they didn't Richards this is a high priotity mission," He handed him a data crystal " Insert this in the bridge projector and it'll explain your orders, now move out"  
"Yes Sir" And with that the crew moved into the ship.  
  
What Richards saw of the ship impressed him although the lack of crew did worry him, 15 crew what the hell were we going to do with 15 crew. A fully manned bridge takes 5, if we used multiRichardsvector mode we'd be doomed.   
"Sorry you didn't have time for the grand tour" Hart said " Maybe we'll get time later"  
"I hope so Ensign, this looks to be an incredible ship"  
"It is Sir, we haven't fully activated it yet" Gladwell said  
"What's left to bring on line?"  
"The holoemitters and weapons system" Gladwell commented as they got to the Tubrolift  
"Bridge" Richards commanded. When he got to the bridge he was surprised, although it was a new ship it seemed to modern. The consoles were far more advanced than his previous ships and the idea of holoemitters everywhere did freak him ever so slightly, The idea that an enraged Klingon could follow a careless person out of the holodeck was a frigtening one.   
"I'll be in engineering" Gladwell said  
"Understood". The rest of the bridge crew took their stations, Richards at the chair, Micheals next to him and Hart at the conn. The bridge was still empty. Richards inserted the data crystal and a holo projection of Admiral Collins appeared.   
"If you are seeing this it means you have taken control of the Honourable Destiny, Captain you may be wondering about your crew compliment. Don't worry it's taken care of." The image said. Richards breathed a sigh of relief " Dr Zimmerman's crowning achievement was not the EMH but rather his other secret project the ELMPH. The Emergancy Longterm Multi Purpose Hologram. Holograms capable of doing anything. Your ship has been loaded with 150 mobile emiters and these holograms. Each one is unique as their characteristics and personality are random. In essance Captain you have a crew but you don't have a crew. When this message ends your chief engineer will bring the holoemitters online and your ship will be ready for it's mission. Your mission is to go to the gamma quadrant via the wormhole and investigate reports that the Dominion is employing a new BattleRichardsCruiser against Non aligned civilian targets, if they are your orders are to stop the ship at any cost. Before going through the wormhole stop at DS9 and meet ambassador Williams, he was the federation ambassador to the Dominion untill he was sent back. He will be observing this mission to make sure we don't interfere in Dominion internal matters, just stop them conquering the gamma quadrant. Good luck and God Speed, intel suggests that the Domininion is building a fleet of these ships, possibly to attempt to retake Deep Space 9 and other alpha quadrant targets. Message Ends".  
The image of Admiral Collins faded and Gladwell came over the comm system "Holoemitters about to go online Sir"  
"Very well, activate them" There was a brief flash and then every station on the bridge was filled.   
"As my great grandpa used to say COOL!" Richards commented  
" The holoemitters are fully operational, the ship has a full compliment, the only things not activated are the secuirity away teams"  
"Very well, Mr Hart disengage docking clamps and pull away from the station"  
"Yes Sir" . The Ship began to pull away from the station and turned towards DS9,   
"Bring up the image of the Warriors Soul"  
"Yes isr." One of the holograms said " By the way I'm Croft" The image of Richards 's old Intrpid class ship appeared.  
"Thank you.... What Is your rank mr Croft?"  
"That is specified by the captain of the vessel"  
"Very well Ensign Croft,"  
"Thank you Sir". Richards looked at the image of his ship fade away as the honourable destiny went to warp.  
"Time untill we reach DS9?" Richards enquired of hart  
"39.5 hours, Sir" Hart responded "How about that tour in the meantime sir?"  
"Yes, I think I better get aqquainted with this ship and it's "Crew" . Hart stood up "What about your post ensign?"   
"No problem Sir, Computer activate conn hologram" Another hologram appeared this one was around 6.5 ft tall and had black hair. "This is Ensign Austin, he fills in for me when I'm not here"  
"Pleasure to be here Sir" Austin said  
"Nice of you to materialise in" Richards joked. Richards and Hart left the bridge.  
"As you probably know, promethius class ships have mutlivector assault mode. It makes the honourable destiny the most powerful Federation ship in the quadrant. The holographic feature was added late in the design. In the end the Federation wants to create a fully automated ship."  
"Holograms basically run this ship, why does this ship need us?"  
"Simple what if the holograms go down?"  
"Good point" Richards said as they reached a room labeled "Secondary Bridge".  
"This is the secondary bridge, this becomes the main bridge of one of the segments during multiRichardsvector assault mode."   
"Does this require a commander to use?"  
"No, but there are holographic commanders to use for this. Computer activate seconadary bridge ech" A hologram appeared, It was the image of Admiral Riker in his prime. The hologram asked "You must be the new captain, Lieutenant Commander Riker, I command the secondary bridge"  
"Nice to meet you, tell me, do you possess Riker's knowledge or are you just in his image?" Richards asked  
"I possess all the tactical knowledge Admiral Riker programmed into me" It said  
"So will we need to activate you when going into multivector attack mode?"  
"No, my crew and I activate automattically when we go into multivector attack mode."  
"Very well, thank you Riker, Now, Mr Hart where are we going next?"  
"Well the tertiary bridgeis the same as this one so the only other place you should see is the barracks."  
"Barracks?"  
"Home of the Holographic away team, and Commander Blackman"  
"Lets go then"  
Upon reaching the barracks they found them empty aside from one man checking Phaser Rifles and Mobile Emitters. When he noticed us he grabbed 3 emitters and turned towards them " Commander Blackman, Sir"  
"Nce to met you Commander, may I ask what do you do here"  
"I command the away team, I am the only humoid member. I'd like you to meet my second Commander Snow, and my best marksmen Abercorn and Windsor." He casualy tossed the 3 emitters into the air and they activaated the holograms.   
" Where's the emergancy sir?" Snow asked Blackman  
"No emergancy, you were activated to see the new captain." Snow turned towards Richards .  
"Pleasure Sir"  
"You too"  
After some introductions there and introductions to his whole bridge crew, Richards retired to his quarters for a few hours. He admitted he liked the idea of holoemitters everywhere since when he wanted an extra cusion in the night it just appeared. He returned to the bridge as they neared DS9.  
"This is Captain Richards of the Honourable Destiny, we wish to beam aboard Ambassador Williams. " A Bajoran woman appeared on the screen.  
" This is Admiral Kira Nerys of Deep Space 9, he's ready to be beamed aboard. Shame you don't have time to stay Captain, you look like you need it, maybe you should spend some time in the holosuites at Nog's .  
"No thanks, I get enough holograms in my life, Richards out" Richards The viewscreen faded  
"Transporter Room to the bridge, Williams is aboard"  
" Good, Mr Austin take us through the wormhole. Inform Ambassador williams I would like to see him in the briefing room immediately. "  
"Yes Sir"  
In the briefing room Richards meet with Ambassador Williams, the Ambassador told him what he could about the positioning of the attacks and all he could about the worlds. It appeared to be a group of worlds the other side of Dominion Space with a similar philospophy to the Federation, they called themselves the League, they consisted of a large portion of the Gamma Quadrant and had been at War with the Dominion for over 30 Years.   
"They're gradually losing this war captain and if we don't stop the Dominion they'll have the power to take the entire Alpha Quadrant."  
"What kind of forces do they use?"  
"Very different ones, generally their larger ships are only armed with Shield and Engine weapons crippling ships, most of their offensive capabilities come from their squadrons of fighters. Before I was ejected from the Dominion space, I was beginning to get the impression that the League knows about us and have been trying to make contact."  
"Why haven't the Dominion told us about them"  
"Would you?"  
"I suppose not"  
"Do you know if they are aware of us?"  
"They may be, Dominion Space is vast,assuming the vorta gave us accurate information it takes 3 weeks to cross even at warp 9. "  
Suddenly the breifing room began to shake, and the comm said  
"Captain to the bridge we're under attack".   
  
RichardsWent rushing to the bridge and took his station, Hart came rushing in, Austin deactivated himself and hart sat down. "Report"  
"We're under attack, unknown ship configuration, they appear to be launching fighters." Croft Said  
" Ambassador could this be the league?"  
"Possibly, I've never seen one of their ships, it could be a Dominion ploy to try to make sure we don't ally with them"  
"Engsin Croft Open a chanel"  
"Chanel Open"  
"This is Captain Richards of the united federation of planets please identify yourself and cease all hostile actions."  
"No respone Captain," Croft said. A console bleeped. "Wait a minute recieiving a transmission from 1 light year away, a larger ship similar configuration"  
"On screen"   
A humanoid appeared on the screen, he was around 6ft tall and slim, he wore a blue uniform, " I am Pring Memor of the League, the ship attacking you is not one of our vessels it is a Dominion ploy, please hold them off untill we reach you"  
" Erm, Pring if you are part of the League how do we know your not the Dominion force?"  
"My vessels are on a course to help defend you right now, untill then please do not destroy the ship we may be able to salvage what's left of itRichards Pring Memor out"  
"Micheals any suggestions?"  
"Bring their shields down and send in Blackman and his team."  
"I concour , Bridge to Barracks, get your team ready you about to be deployed."  
"Understood Sir, we need 2 minutes to deploy"  
"Very Well, Mr Hart engage MultiVector attack mode"  
"Yes Sir, seperation in 5,4,3,2,1" There was a thud as the ship split into 3 separate sections. "Riker is requesting orders sir, channel open"  
"Mr Riker, we need the shields down on that carrier but do not destroy it, keep your scanners active we have potential hostiles on the way"  
"Understood Sir".  
The first section was equipped with mainly phasers and was pushing forwards, trying to drive a wedge through the fighters while the third section, the carrier launched a wing of bombers.  
"Sir, the carrier has launched 10 bombers, they appear to be targetting the secondary section." Hart said  
" Try to take them out, get me Riker"  
"Riker here"  
"We need those bombers gone before they do to much damage."  
"Understood, we're on our way".  
Riker and his ship moved forward covering the third section. Between most of the phaser blasts the bombers were disabled. The enemy carrier, moved towards the third section and fired a blast at the third section. An energy field engulfed it for a second then it was disabled.  
The main section pulled back firing phasers at the fighters disabling them, Riker and the second section flew in close attacking the main ship and using it's rear phasers to keep the fighters  
"Sir, The tertiary vessel has been disabled, the carrier appears to be using some sort of Elector Magnetic pulse, it's disabling all primary systems." Croft Said  
" Can it be reinitialised, we're outgunned out there?" Richards asked  
"Yes sir, but it will require someone on board to do it and the electomagnetic interfearance is rendering holograms inoperable. Within it"  
" Can we use a shuttle to get across and reinitialise it?"  
"Perhaps but moving a shuttle through those fighters will be tricky"  
"Mr Hart can your friend Austin pilot a shuttle?"  
"Yes Sir, but won't the interfearance shut him down"  
"Yes but once we're aboard I can do the rest, I just need a pilot to watch my back out there. Computer activate Conn hologram" Austin appeared  
"Mr Austin go to the shuttle bay and prepare the Iron Wolf to launch, I'll be joining you in the Tusk in a second"  
"Yes Sir", Austin left the bridge as another fighter's phaser hit the bridge.  
"Mr Micheals you have the bridge"  
"Yes Sir, Hold your fire, only target fighters targetting us or the shuttles we don't have the fire power to take them all." Micheals said.  
stopped and got a phaser rifle and a mobile emitter loaded with an enginner. Hopefully once he cleared the field he could help him bring the tertiary section online again. He got to his shuttle.   
"Tusk to Iron Wolf, are you ready?"  
"Yes Sir, I'll watch your back" . The 2 shuttles launched and were immediately targetted, Austin's piloting abilities soon became clear when he evaded them drawing their fire while Richards got to the tertiary secion. A fighter closed on the Tusk and fired a missle at it.  
"Damit" Richards said . As he rolled his shuttle hopefully trying to dodge it, it worked but it became apparent it was a homing missle as it came around again and this time it couldn't be avoided. It hit and all his consoles went dead.   
"Damn"   
  
Meanwhile on the bridge of the secondary section Riker was having his own problems.  
"Shields down to 23%"  
"Begin firing all phasers on the fighters, fire 3 photon torpedo's on the carrier"  
"Yes Sir". . The phasers began targeting fighters and was taking them out and photon torpedo's punched a hole through their shields.  
"Riker to Richards the carrier has a hole in it's shields whatever your going to do, do it now."  
"Understood, The Captain is in a shuttle, he's been disabled can you cover him, the fighters are keeping between us."  
"We'll see what we can do, Riker Out"  
  
Blackman materilised in a quiet corridor in the carrier, it seemed perculiar to him, the ship seemed so Federation like yet it wasn't . The corridors were the same dull gray and the doors reminded him of old style starship doors. He dropped his phaser rifle onto his back along with 3 others and threw his holoemiiters into place. Snow, Abercorn and Windsor quickly appeared and picked up their phaser rifles.   
"Orders" Snow enquired  
"Disable this places weapons and gather as much information as possible." He said as 2 Jem H'adar appeared Snow fired a shot narowly missing the first 1 while Blackman fired and hit the seconds one, The second Jem H'adar fired on Abercorn but the shot went straight through her. Windsor, drew his knife and jabbed it straight between the Jem H'adar's eyes.  
" When we get back you and I are going to have a little talk about those modifications you made okay?" Blackman said."Now move out we've gotta lot of ground to cover"  
  
Richards worked frantically in his shuttle trying to do anything. The only thing that worked was the viewscreen. He watched the battle rage around him. He noticed Riker's section moving towards his own only to take a hit to the engines from a fighter.  
"Report" Riker screamed  
" Engines down, we're drifting Sir." The Helmsman reported "One more hit like this and we'll all be gonners"  
"Fire Photon torpedo's at the fighters" Riker commanded  
"But fighters are extremly mavouverable it'll never hit"  
"I have no intention to hit them, do you have any knowledge of World War 1?"  
"A little"  
"Both sides used large cannon like weapons to slow down fighters and bombers. I intend to do the same, target in between large groups of them."  
"Aye Sir". A volley of torpedos flew into the fighters when they exploded scattering a large group of fighters while the Primary segment disabled them.   
"Sir, this isn't working that ship has hundreds of fighters aboard, we'll never disable them all". The helmsman said "What shall we do?"  
"All auxilary power to the shields, anything that's remaining pump into phasers, we're gonna take out that ships launching mechanism"  
"Sir, it's barely in range we'll never take it out"  
"Yes we will I have an idea"  
  
Meanwhile Austin was still fighting his way through the mix of fighters, he had evaded torpedo's and taken out several fighters but along the way had lost his escort. The computer bleeped, another one was locked onto him. His shuttle rocked as a phaser hit it. He tried a 180 turn but it followed, this guy was good. He franitcally tried weaving in and out of the disabled fighters but it kept following. Austin couldn't manage to turn his shuttle round to hit it. "Aft Shields Down" The computer stated.  
"Damn, Austin to primary section, my quarters used up, I've gotta get outta here"  
"Understood," With that Austin beamed out of the shuttle. Just as the missle hit disabling the ship.  
  
In the other shuttle Richards was desperatly trying to dissapate the radiation and bring his shuttle back on line. He continued to work as the battle raged. Then 2 Jem H`adar beamed in behind him. Richards turned. "In the name of the founders you are under arrest" said the first soldier but when he tried to fire his weapon was useless so he drew his knife and lunged at Richards. Richards parried it by hitting the side of this knife with his arm but then the second one restrained him and then all 3 of them were beamed away/  
  
Meanwhile on the primary segment, Micheals was becoming frustrateed.   
"There's too many of them we need a new strategy" he said as the carriers EM blast hit the primary section and all the holograms and consoles died on the spot."  
"Hart , how long will this radiation last?"  
"Not very long 1 maybe 2 hours". Rikers ship in the meantime was targeting the launching mechanism with his phasers, trying to snipe them away, when the shields dropped below 50% he launched a torpdeo.   
"Sir, it appears the primary section has been disabled as well" His helmsman said, the computer bleeped a couple of times "Oh no"  
"What is it?" Riker demanded  
"Another carrier and fighters approaching at high warp"  
"Just great, are engines back online yet?"  
"Barely sir, we can manage perhaps 1/4 impulse"  
"Make it so, head towards the tertiary section and lock on a tractor beam"  
"Aye sir, wait a minute, the new ships, they're engaging the carier."  
"On screen"  
  
It was true, the ships were engaging the carrier, they hit it bad, but the enemy carriers bombers shot the main carrier to hell, it launched escape pods, as the enemy carrier went to warp/  
"What was that?" Snow asked  
"Sounded like we went to Warp"  
"Warp, doesn't that mean we're stranded"  
"Yes, but we have a job to do and by God we're gonna do it"  
  
Meanwhile of Rikers bridge, he picked up the escape pods. He met the captain of the carrier.  
"I am Pring Memor, tell me do you have anyway for our fighter to dock, they cannot surive out there for very long"  
"Yes, we have shuttle bays they can use, tell me, can you help us disapate the radiation?"  
"Cetainly, can I access your communications system"  
"Of course"  
"This is memor, to acer lead, fire antiRichardsradiation missles on the 2 other ships"  
"Understood Sir". The fighter moved through the mass of disabled ships and fired on the teritary and secondary segments,. Immediately they came back onRichardsline.  
"Amazing," Riker said " Helm, initiate docking sequence"  
"Yes Sir"  
  
The 3 ships slowly came together form one. Riker, Micheals,Williams, Austin and Memor met in the breifing room to discuss what had happened.  
" 6 Months ago, we learned that there was an advanced culture on the far side of Dominion Space. So we launched a Ship to find you, it was one of our most advanced carriers. The Unity.. Unfortuantly shortly after it's launch, it was attacked by a large Jem H`adar force and captured. We believed it was destroyed but a week later we found out it was captured., my ship was launched to either destroy or retake it before it reached your space. We weren't aware the Dominion conceded so much to you."  
"They didn't this space is considered neutral, we're 3 light years away from what we call Dominion Space."  
"Do you believe that your government will aid us?"  
"They may, the Dominion war took a heavy toll on us, we still haven't fully recovered" Micheals said "Politics really aren't my thing, I don't get by our home planet much, Richards was there shortly before he was made captain. He may know more"  
"I hope so, the Dominion has gained a lot of ground lately. We're losing space rapidly to them, our newest carriers are protecting homeworld.". Hart ran in.  
"What is it Ensign?"  
"Sir, the we've recovered the shuttles"  
"So we can depart?"  
"Sir, the captain, he wasn't in the shuttle"  
  
If anybody wants me to continue say so, If I do continue here's whats gonna happen in chapter 2:  
Blackman and his team continue their mission aboard the ship, unaware that Richards is aboard  
Micheals and Pring Memor, try to devise a strategy to rescue Richards and stop the Jem H`afar destroying the League.  
Austin gets a new assignment  
  
  
  



End file.
